peters



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LAURISTON TOWNE, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

MAKING CHAIN FROM SHEET METAL.

Specification ofl Letters Patent No. 26,801, dated January 10, 1860.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, LAURisToN TowNn, of the city and county ofProvidence, in the State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Machines for Making Chain from Sheet Metal; and I dohereby declare that the following specification, taken in connectionwith the drawings making a part of the same, is a full, clear, and exactdescription thereof.

Figure l, represents a side view of a machine constructed on myprinciple. Fig. 2,

- represents an end view of the same. Figs.

3, 4, 5 6 7 82 S, are details, to be hereinafter referred to- In theLetters Patent of the United States heretofore granted to me bearingdate Cct. 20 1857 and numbered 18,490 after detailing the mode ofoperation which characterizes the machine for making chain from sheetmetal therein specially described, I use the following language inspeaking of the various ways in which I had contemplated the applicationof the same principle in the formation of chain:

The machine as above described, is made so as to turn or vibrate thechain to receive the links in alternate positions for interlocking thearms thereof. Instead of thus turning or vibrating the chain the linksmight be applied in alternate positions while the chain would remain ina ixed position. This method would require the `angular vibration orturning of the link carrier or its equivalent-the punch, M, thelifters,g, c/ and fingers, p, 7 9 or if not the actual movement of all or any ofthem a double number alternately put in action would be required. Suchan arrangement would be more complicated more diiiicult to arrange andless desirable in many respects than the method of moving the formingguide and chain but itis the same in principle as and can be consideredonly as a modification of the method adopted and described.

The modification above indicated I have developed in the followingmanner: A is the table or platform on which the various parts of themechanism are arranged.

B is the main shaft on which the several cams and a toothed pinion areplaced from which the different motions hereinafter described arederived.

A strip or ribbon of metal having been prepared it is presented to themachine over the die plate, a, (Figs. 2' and 3), and by any feedingdevice having an intermittent motion is drawn over the cutting die, b,(Fig. 3). IVhile the strip of stock is at rest the plunger C, Fig. 2,descends and passing through the cutting dle, Z), cuts out from thestrip a blank link of the form` desired. (In the present instance thelink resembles in shape a Maltese cross, and corresponds in all respectsto the form of the cutting die, b.) The blank link so cut is depositedby the plunger into a. similarly shaped recess or cavity in the carrierD which is in Waiting to receive it under the cutting die. Plunger, C,being operated by means of a cam on `the main shaft through theintervention of lever connections now rises clearof the cutting die-t-heshape of the actuating cam being such that it shall descend once only ateach revolution of the crank. As it is intended to turn each link ofwhich the chain is to be composed relatively to the last link in thechain such a fractional part of the circle as shall enable the arms ofthe two to interlock I construct the carrier differently from the oneshown in the Letters Patent heretofore granted to me and above referredto, in order to accomplish that result.

Nearthe extremity of thesliding plate D which has a reciprocating motionderived through lever connections from a cam on` the crank shaft I placea supplemental plate or shallow cup E on the carrier plate Dsoarrangedithat it can have an angular motion on its axis around a fixedcenter within the plate D. Inthis part of the whole device posited ablank link on the supplemental plate of the carrier. The revolution ofthe driving shaftcauses a cam to operate on the carrier through themeans of a connecting lever and move it'to aposition directly over themouth of the tube within which the` chain is formed.

As the carrier approaches the end ofy its path of travel the armsV C, Cwith which the supplemental plate Eis providedcome in contact with theshifting gage stop H and the supplemental plate being as has beenstatedfree to move on its axis it is thereby made to assume a positionV due tothat of the stop. A third cam on the main shaft now puts the punch, N,in action and after causing it to descend through the carrier, and forcethe blank link into the mouth of the forming tube returns it to itsformer position. The bottom of that part of the carrier upon which theblank restsrbeing perforated with an opening sufliciently large to admitof the passage of the punch without allowing the blank to fall through,unless forced through the perforation by the punch, it follows that thearms of the link after it has been deposited in the forming tube, willbe bent up nearly at right angles to the body of the link. As thesubsequent operations of the machine are performed upon the lastmentioned link after the next succeeding link has been deposited in itsproper place I will omit them until that time.

The first link having been deposited in the mouth of the forming tube,the carrier returns to its first position under the cutting die, Z9, thesupplemental plate, in the retreat of the carrier being turned back totheproper position for receiving the link by an equivalent instrument ordevice to the one already described for presenting the link to the tube.Having received a second blank,

the carrier proceeds again toward the mouth' of the tube, but in themean time the stop H has by the action of the lever connections I, Ioperated by a cam driven by a toothed pinion on the main shaft beenshifted in its position to a part of the circumference of a circledistant from its position when the first link was presented by as manydegrees. As it-is necessary to turn the link for the purpose of makingthe arms thereof interlock the arms of the last linkin the chain. It isobvious that the plate E with the link Vupon it, will in consequence beturned t the same extent. The punch F, N, now descends and deposits thesecond link within the tube with its arms interlocking the arms of thefirst link. Two of the four bending instruments, el, CZ, arranged aroundthe formingV tube at the same distance from each other as the arms ofthe link employed are now put in action and in the present instance bendover two opposite arms of the rst link; this done,- the other twobending instruments bend over the remaining pairV of arms of the firstlink causing them to overlap the pair already bent down. Punch N nowdescends and clenches the four.

Each of the bending instruments, in the present instance, consists of aslide, d, united to a bell crank shaped pick, 7", (Fig. 8,) by theconnecting link, e. The slide, d, works in a longitudinal groove in thesheath Fig. 6 which incases thestationary forming tube,

Fig. 7, and the bell crank, f, being hinged to the sheath at the angleit is apparent that as the slide, 0l, is raised the point of the pickwill be thrust forward. Twoof the slides d', (Z, are operated by thesheath J (Fig. 4L and the other two by the sheath K Fig. the one beingwithin the other. The upper head of each being formed as shown at L andM, in the drawings,(Figs. 4L and 5,) and the connection between eachsheath and the pair of slides which it operates being made by means oftwo projections, g, g, on each slide, (Fig. 8) between which the platesyL or M work freely. The sheaths J and K are raised at the proper timesso as to effect the operation of the bending picks as above described bymeans of lever connections worked from cams onV the main shaft. A thirdblank is now brought forward and the same operations as were describedwith reference to the first link are repeatedthe bending instrumentsalways acting upon the arms of the next preceding link, turning themdown successively by pairs over` the body of the last link deposited.

When a single winged-punch like the one shown in the drawing is employedit is of course necessary to turn it upon its axis in order that thewings may correspond with the arms of the several links upon which it issuccessively to operate, and where only four bending instruments areused it is also necessary to shift their position around the formingtubein order that they may act upon the arms of the link next precedingthe last one deposited. The devices which I employ to secure this modeof operation are'these: The punch shank F has its lower extremity formedinto a socket within which the cylindrical stem (not shown in drawing)of the punch N is fitted. The same lever which by the cam previouslyspoken lof shifts the position of the stop H is by means of the rod, O,and arm P (Fig. l) attached to the punch stem-so that whenever the stopE is shifted the punch N will be correspondingly turned on its axis. Thesame cam which operates the stop and punch is also made to change theposition of the bending instruments simultaneously with the shifting ofthe stop, by means of the rod R, and arm S attached to the sheath, Fig.6, which encircles the forming tube and on which the bending instrumentsare mounted; thus with certainty and precision the relations of thepunch, the stop and the devices for bending over the arms are maintainedY to each other, so that whenever the position of one with reference tothe forming tube is changed the position of the other two will becorrespondingly changed also.

As the principle upon which the chain is made in this machine requiresthe forming tube'to remain stationary, and as only four bendinginstruments are used, it follows that Y l i the tube must be soconstructed that the picks can operate equally well on any twosuccessive links of the chain. The forming tube is accordingly made asshown at Fig. 7 with eight slots cut in the upper end of it, four ofwhich admit the points of the picks as they are thrust forward to bendthe arms of the first link and the four remaining alternate ones admitthe same picks when thrust forward to bend over the arms of the secondlink.

It is obvious that the principle above described can be successfullyapplied to making chain, the links of which have a different number ofarms from the links of the chain which the specific machine described isadapted to make. In such cases it will be come necessary to turn eachlink on its axis before it is presented to the chain to a greater orless extent according to the number of arms employed and the desiredresult can be obtained by modifying the form of the cam which actuatesthe stop punch and bending picks. If a link is used with an odd numberof arms the bending picks should correspond in number to the number ofthe arms and if it is desired to bend over all the arms of each linksimultaneously one of the cams for operating the picks shown in thismachine may be dispensed with.

l/Vhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patentis- 1. Forming that portion of the carrier in which the blank link istransported in such a manner that it can be made to turn on an axiswhich shall be coincident with the axis of the blank link upon itsubstantially as described.

2. The combination of the supplemental plate E or its equivalent with astop E or its equivalent for the purpose of determining the extent ofrotation which shall be given to the plate E and thus insure the properpresentation of the blank to the chain substantially as described, forthe purposes specified.

3. I claim the mode of operation substantially as specified by means ofwhich the punch N, stop E, and bending picks, d, al, d or theirequivalents are made to cooperate in alternate positions in relation tothe form ing tube, for the purposes set forth.

LAURISTON TOVVNE.

Witnesses JOHN GARTLAN, J. W. MOORE.

